There are conventionally suggested various information distribution systems in which, when a reception apparatus, such as a mobile phone, enters a specific area within the reach of radio waves from a particular base station, the base station provides a service such as distributing service information unique to the specific area to the reception apparatus. For example, there is suggested a terminal apparatus for extracting information unique to a base station (base station ID) from identifier information transmitted from the base station in wireless communication with the mobile phone and automatically receives area information corresponding to the base station ID with an embedded information storage unit (see Patent Document 1). The terminal apparatus described in Patent Document 1 prestores information on each area in an internal medium or the like and, when it detects the base station ID transmitted from the base station in the area, provides a user with the information on the area corresponding to the base station ID.
In addition, there is also suggested a communication terminal capable of obtaining location information and obtaining area information corresponding to the location by communicating with an external source (see Patent Document 2). According to Patent Document 2, a mobile terminal such as the mobile phone, being located in a particular area, can provide a user with information suitable for the area by receiving information such as guide information from the external source. The terminal apparatus described in Patent Document 2 can specify its location to a high accuracy by a GPS (Global Positioning System) communication or by measuring a distance from a base station installed at a fixed location.
By appropriate applications of those techniques, it is possible to provide a user of a communication terminal which has entered a particular area with service information specific to the area by distributing service information unique to the area through wireless communication from an apparatus such as a base station or the like. Recently, techniques specialized for communications in a narrow area, such as gap fillers and femtocells, have been developed. Therefore, applications of the above techniques to services for a narrow area allows for a detailed service such as distribution of information unique to the area from an apparatus in the area to the terminal having entered the narrow area.
Various information may be considered as the service information used for these techniques. For example, if the area for distribution of the service information is small like a shop, the service information may be information on limited items or recommended items of the shop or information on a date of a sale or an event. Hereinafter, information distributed in a narrow area and related to a service provided to consumers in the narrow area is referred to as “service information.”